Sheet-metal display-box.



IE. WESTERBEOK.

SHEET METAL DISPLAY BOX.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 15, 1908.

Patented June 15, 1909.

FREDERICK WESTERBEGK, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

SHEET-METAL DISPLAY-B OX.

Application filed January 15, 1908.

To all 207mm it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK \VEs'rER- BECK, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet-Metal Display-Boxcs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing,

forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to that character of display boxes in which bakery products, such as crackers and small cakes, are commonly offered for sale in stores and in which the products are usually transported from the manufacturer to the dealer. Display boxes of this description have in recent years been made with front walls of sheet brass 01' other easily polished metal which may be refinished from time to time when the boxes are returned to the manufacturer for re-use and waereby attractive front finish for the boxes is constantly maintained throughout their use for the display of the merchandise that is placed in them.

It has been found that there is a material objection to the use of the front wall metals, such as brass, that have been employed in that the edible merchandise placed in the boxes has become tainted or poisoned by contact with the front walls of the boxes and this has been due, more particularly to the formation of verdigris as a result of the application of solder to metal, such as brass, and which has been employed to connect the front walls of the boxes to the side walls and bottoms of the boxes. Numerous efforts have been made to provide protection for the merchandise to prevent its being injuriously affected by contact with the front walls of the boxes. In so far as I am aware, all of such efforts have involved structural features in the box, whereby the merchandise placed in the boxes is prevented from coming in contact with the metal of the front walls of the boxes.

The object of my invention is to provide a display box in which the front wall of the box is made of material that will not rove detrimental to the edible merchandise p aced in the box and which may be made of the same material as the remainder of the box is made-for instance, tin plate, to provide a display opening in said front wall and a sign to indicate the nature of the merchandise; also to provide a removable facing plate Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 15,1909.

Serial No. 410,919.

through which the merchandise may be viewed at the front of the box and the sign upon the front wall may also be viewed. My removable facing plate is made of easily polished or refinished material, such as sheet metal, and it is preferably of brass. The facing plate is located entirely exterior of the display box and therefore there is no liability of the merchandise placed in the box being contaminated inasmuch as protection from the facing plate for the merchandise is afforded by the front wall of the box.

Figure I is a perspective view of my display box with portions thereof broken out to afford a view of parts of the box back of the broken away portions. Fig. II is a front elevation of the box without the facing plate applied thereto. Fig. III is a vertical section taken through the box on line IIIIII, Fig. I.

In the accompanying drawings: A designates the body of my box which includes a bottom B that is preferably provided at its front end with an upturned flange 6.

D is the lid of the box.

The box body comprises, in addition to its sides and rear walls and its bottom, a front wall lwhich is provided. with a channel at the bottom edge, an inset frame having a lower sight opening 2 that is closed by a sheet 3 of transparent material, such as glass, and through which merchandise placed in the box may be viewed. The front wall 1 is also provided with an inset and outset portion having a sign portion 4 located above the sight opening 2 and. which is preferably depressedrelative to the face of the front wall and upon which description of the merchandise to be placed in the display box may be produced by lithographing, painting or in any other manner.

5 designates my facing plate which is provided with a lower sight opening 6 and an up per sight opening 7. The sight openings 6 and 7 are adapted, when the facing plate is applied to the front of the box body A, to provide respectively for a view to the interior of the box through the lower sight opening 2 in its front wall and a view of the sign upon the upper sign portion 4 of the front wall of the box. The material of the facing plate around the sight openings therein is preferably bent inwardly to provide inturned flanges 6 and 7, the former of which is adapted to bear against the transparent sheet 3 for the purpose of holding it in place the employment of which preferably occupies a position around the sign portion 4 as most clearly seen in v Fig. 111. The facing plate is removably or detachably fitted to the front wall of the box and held thereto in any suitable manner, such as by seating the lower edgeiof the plate within the channel C of the front wall and inwardly and downwardly bent tongues 8 carried by or secured by their upper ends to the facing plate and adapted to be passed through slots or perfo rations 1 in the front wallof the box. The facing plate is further preferably provided withside flanges 9 that overlap onto the sides of the box body when the facing plate is fit ted to said body, as seen in Fig. I

The facing sheet herein described may be readily detached from the box body for the purpose of renewing the finish thereon and when it is in position upon the box it is entirely separated from the merchandise placed in the box so that there is no danger of con tamination of the merchandise by contact thereof with the facing plate. Employment of the facing plate renders it possible to renew the finish at the front of the box without the necessity of handling the entire box in renewing such finish either by burnishing the facing or immersing it in a suitable solution and then dipping it into a lacquer to renew the finish. Moreover, the facing plate being detachable may be readily re-shaped in a forming die in the event of its becoming distorted, due to rough usage of the display box upon which it has been utilized. Another l l l i i a l l i I v i l l i l .play, boxes advantage in the construction of my box is that the facing plate,'being detachable, may

be transported separate from the box proper 1 in the delivery thereof from manufacturer to dealer and may be delivered to the dealer in an unmarred condition instead of being injured in transportation as the fronts of disfrequently are in constructions where the display fronts are integral parts of the boxes. The construction herein described furthermore adds. materially to the strength of the front of the box. H

I claim:

1. A sheet metal display box comprising a body having a bottom formed with an upturned front flange, a front wall having. a channel at its lower end and fitted against the front flange and slots at its upper end, and a facing plate seated in the channel and having tongues at its upper end engaging in the slots of the front plate.

2. A sheet metal display box comprising a body having a bottom formed with an. upturnedfront flange, a front wall having a channel at its lower end and fitted against the front flange, an inset lower part, an outset middle part, an inset upper part, and slots at its upper end, and a facing plate seated in the channel and having a lower sight opening formed with inturned flanges, an upper sight opening formed with inturned flanges, and tongues at its upper'end engaging in the slots of the front plate.

FREDERICK W'ESIERBECK.

In presence of LILY Rosa, BLANOI-IE HOGAN. 

